Transmission-gearing.



l. H. PLEUKHARP.

TRANSMISSION BEARING.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.2,1916.

1 Patented June 12, 191?.

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y ,229332, p Spearman@ of Letters raient. Pmmfdl Jun@ 329- @migo Application tiled lMarch 2, 1916.` Serial No. 81,632. u -l To all whom t may concern.' Be it known that I, IRVIN H. PLUnxHARP, a citizen of ,the United States, residing at l Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Transmission-Gearing,

of'which the following is a specification.

My vinvention relates to transmission gearing and more particularly to the type of re.

ple and practical combination of elementsv arranged to give selectively two different driving ratios. My present invention 1s especially concerned with the mechanical details of construction and arrangement of the engineering practice.

v 'as The invention will be fully understood from vthe following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which illustrates in horizontal section a preferred embodimentof the invention.

1n this drawing the numeral 1 identifies 'the primary driving member of my axletransmission assembly, this member being designed to be connected with the vehicle propeller shaft as by a universal joint or coupling 2. rlhe inner end of the driving member 1 is enlarged and centrally bored as shown at 3, to receive the reduced' end 4 of the high-speed driving shaft 5.

The lat-ter is journaled at its inner end in a combined radial and thrust bearing 6 which is sleeved upon a shouldered bush 7 which further serves as a spacer member to secure upon the squared shaft portion 8 a-separate highspeed driving-pinion 9, a nut 10 threaded upon the inner end of the shaft holding the parts in assembled position. The bearing 6 is lmounted in a web llwhich may be cast or forged integrally withthe housing member 12 of the rear axle or jack-shaft.

intermediate its length the shaft member 5 is slightly enlarged `as at 51 and at the outer end of this enlarged section therel are formed radially extending clutch teeth 13. The outer faces of these teeth form a shoulder against which a thrust bearing 14C seats,

is carried by a pair of opposed combined radial and thrust bearings 15, 16, mounted in the manner shown in a housing 17 which is designed to be bolted to the housing 12.

rlhe bearing 15 lies in the plane of a bearing 18 interposed between the reduced extremity a of the drive-shaft 5 and the bore of the enlargement 3 of the primary driving member l. By this arrangement-of the parts the drive-'shaft 5 is adequately supported from the housing by bearings at each end capable of taking both radial load and thrust.

Surrounding the intermediate portion of the drive-shaft 5 is the low-speed drivesleeve 19, the internal bore of the sleeve being sutiicient to permit it to be slipped on over the inner end of the drive-shaft before the pinion 9 is put on. r1`he sleeve 19 hasformed integrally thereon a low-speed driving-pinion 20, and for supporting the sleeve 1 provide a pair of opposed combined radial andthrust bearings 21, 22, mounted directly within the housing 17 as shown. The outer end of the sleeve carriesaxially extending clutch teeth 23 which lie over the shaft section 51 and terminate some distance short of the drive-shaft clutch-teeth 13.

F or transmitting power from the primary driving member 1 selectively to the drive-shaft 5 or sleeve 19, li provide a sliding clutch sleeve 2&1 splined to the enlargement 3 and having its inner overhanging end formed into radially and axially extending clutch teeth or jaws 25 of such depth that in the assembled position of the parts qtheir inner radial faces bear upon and are supported by the/shaft-section 51. For

shifting the clutch-sleeve 241 there is provided a slidable shifter rod 26 carrying an arm 27 the free end of which engages a groove 28 in the sleeve. A. spring pressed plunger 29 operating against cam faces on the arm 27 serves to normally hold the clutch in either of its extreme shifted positions, as is well understood.

rThe high and low speed pinions 9 and 20 are arranged to mesh respectively with concentric ring gears 30, 31, carried by the' flange of an annular differential housing member 32. r[he latter may be of the design shown in the drawing, .and well undervstood in the art, acting to compensate for the varyi relative speeds of the two axle drive mem ers 33.

Inthe construction illustrated in the drawing .the twodrving ratios afforded are 4 to 1 and 5- to 1, the former ratio being obtained .by a 5pitch (diametral) pinion 9 having fourteen teeth meshing with a ring gear of fifty-six teeth, and the latter ratio being obtamed by a pinlon 20 of fteen teeth meshing with a ring gear 31l of lsev'- enty-ive teeth. 4 i

While it is believed that the operation of my device will be suiiciently clear to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description of the construction of the same, it

lmay be stated briefly that accordingly as the 'shifter rod 26 occupies the inner or outer position, the clutch teeth 25 will engage either the low-speed sleeve 19 or the high-speed shaft 5, each of these members being free of lall driving connection with the primary drive member 1: when the other is engaged therewith. The axles 33 may therefore be driven at either of the desired speeds relative to the primary drive member or tail shaft 1 by movement of the shifter rod 26.

While IV have shown and described in considerable detail one specific embodiment of my invention it is to be understood that such showing and description is illustrative only and for the purpose-of making my invention more clear.

What I claim as new and'desire to secure by Letters Patent is f A 1. In combination, a primary driving member having a central bore within -its in- .ner end, a high-speed driveshaft in alinement therewith and having its outer end entering and bearing within the bore of the inner end of said primary driving member,

clutch jaws formed on said high-speed drveshaft adjacent its outerend, a relatively long low-speed sleeve surrounding the highv speed shaft andhaving clutch jaws formed in its outer end spaced from the jaws of the shaft, said sleeve being free of all connections with the said shaft, a pair of external bearings mounted on opposite ends of the sleeve for directly supporting the same, a bevel pinion carried by the inner end of the sleeve, a bevel pinion on the inner end of the shaft, concentric bevel gears mounted on a shaft at right-angles to the driveshaft-and meshing each with one of the said pinions, and an overhanging clutch member slidable upon the inner end of the primary driving member and having clutch jaws adaptedto selectively engage with the jaws of the highspeed shaft or the lowspeed sleeve. 2. I n combination, a primary driving member having a central bore within its inner end, a high-speed drive-shaft in alinement therewith and having its outer end entering and bearing within the bore of the insurrounding the high-speed shaft and having a clutch member on its outer end spaced from the clutch member of the shaft, said sleeve being free of all connections with the said shaft, `a pair of external bearings mounted on opposite endsof the sleeve for directly supporting the same, a bevel pinion carried by the inner end of the sleeve, a bevel pinion on the inner end of the shaft, a bearing supporting the inner end of the shaft, concentric bevel gears mounted on a shaft at right-angles to the drive shaft and meshing each with one of the .said pinions, and an overhanging clutch member slidable upon the inner end of the primary' driving member and adapted to selectively engage with the clutch of the high-speed shaft or the low-speed sleeve.

IRVIN H. PLEUKHARP. 

